Degustation, Demystified
Why seven small courses beat three big ones — and how to get the most from the format without feeling lost.
Degustation is sequencing — the kitchen controls the arc, you control nothing but the pace.
Come hungry but not starving — the courses are small, the sum is not.
Ask questions — the format exists so the kitchen can explain itself.
What the format actually is
Degustation means 'tasting' — a sequence of small courses that builds like a score rather than a menu. There's no choosing involved: the kitchen has already made the decisions, and the point is trust.
The anxiety first-timers bring — 'will there be enough food?' — answers itself by course four. Seven small plates carry the same total as three large ones, just paced better. Nobody has ever left our counter hungry; several have asked us to slow down.
A menu asks what you want. A degustation shows you what we believe.
Elena Vasseur, Executive Chef
How to get the most from it
Eat in the order served — the sequence is deliberate; the sweet note in course two exists to set up course three. Take the pairing if you drink at all: the sommelier's pours are built into the menu's pacing, and the standard tier is genuinely good value.
Most importantly: ask. The format exists so the kitchen can talk. At our counter the chef narrates anyway, but the tables that enjoy it most are the curious ones — the questions improve the evening for the whole counter.
Four takeaways
The short version, for the notes app.
Trust the sequence — eat as served, not in the order you'd prefer.
Take the pairing — the pours are composed into the menu's pacing.
Pace yourself early — courses four and five are the heavyweights.
Ask everything — curiosity is the dress code for the counter.
Our version of it
The Chef's Table runs seven movements over about three hours — raw to fire to sweet, narrated by whoever plated it. $195 a seat, pairing from $120.
For a gentler first taste, the blind menu night runs the same format with the surprise turned up — menu revealed only as plates land.
Elena Vasseur
Executive Chef — believes a menu should be trusted the way a score is trusted.
More from the journal
Quick answers
Trust the sequence
Eight seats a night at the counter — the format at its best.